After another night of hard rain, the Corps traveled seven miles this day.

It is not known why York had sand thrown into his eye. Perhaps one of the men was simply having fun at a slave's expense.

York was William Clark's personal servant since boyhood. York tended to his every need.

Although he did everything the others on the expedition did, "York was never an official member of the party," according to Jim Holmberg, curator of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Ky.

The Indians along the way were quite fascinated by the strong and tall "Big Medicine" and "black white-man."

After finally reaching the Pacific, Lewis took a vote of all the members, including York and Sacagawea, on where to spend the winter. It was the first democratic vote by a black American and an Indian woman.

Even after the expedition, Clark at first refused to grant York his request for freedom. And unlike the Army enlistees and French engagés, York was not paid.

York was married, and after the expedition told Clark he wanted to be with his wife.

Sometime after 1811, Clark granted York his freedom and set him up in a delivery business. York apparently was not successful and wished to return to St. Louis to be with Clark, but he died of cholera in Tennessee.